Christmas is coming

Online shopping is predicted to be a popular preference for consumers this Christmas according to industry sources. The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan anticipate consumers will spend over $7.3 billion in the ‘other retailing’ category during pre-Christmas trading. This represents a 2.7% jump compared to last year.

“Online shopping accounts for over $23 billion annually in Australia and we expect more consumers to use online platforms to get in early and avoid the rush that occurs in the lead up to Christmas,” he said.

While Boxing Day reigns supreme as the most favourable sales day over the holiday shopping season, newer sales days including Black Friday and Cyber Monday are on the incline, with recent data from Hitwise indicating a 20% year-on-year increase from the previous year. The ARA believes these sales days will encourage retailers to prepare for the upcoming festive season.

According to Zimmerman, retailers adopting alternative payment options will also gain a significant advantage. “As the ARA already anticipates online retail sales to continue to increase immensely during this season, it seems likely that transactions through buy-now, pay-later services will contribute to this increase throughout the Christmas season and into the New Year,” he said.

Alternative payment options have recorded a 122% year-on-year increase compared to 2017, with many merchants adopting buy-now, pay-later services including Afterpay and ZipPay.